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Clemens Meyer and Katy Derbyshire

London, 11 May 2017

Born in 1977 in Halle, Clemens Meyer attended the German Literature Institute in Leipzig. Having worked as a security guard, forklift driver and construction worker, he published his first book, Als wir träumten (As We Were Dreaming) in 2006, in which he depicts a group of friends growing up and going off the rails after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Awarded the Rheingau Literatur Preis, the book was adapted for the screen by Andreas Dresen in 2015. His next publication, a short story collection entitled Die Nacht, die Lichter (2008), won the Leipzig Book Fair Prize and was translated by Katy Derbyshire (And Other Stories, 2011). His next book, Gewalten (Acts of Violence) is a diary of 2009, told in eleven stories. His 2013 novel, Im Stein, has been translated by Katy Derbyshire (Bricks and Mortar).

Katy Derbyshire studied German at Birmingham University and went on to obtain a Diploma in Translation from the University of London. She moved to Berlin in 1996, teaching English to children, and since 2002 has been working as a freelance translator. In 2008 she founded the blog love german books. Her translations include: The King of China (Tilmann Ramstedt's Der Kaiser von China, 2013), Inke Parei's Was Dunkelheit war (What Darkness Was, 2013) and Die Schattenboxerin (The Shadowboxing Girl, 2011), and Clemens Meyer’s Die Nacht, die Lichter (All the Lights, 2008) and Im Stein (Bricks and Mortar, 2014) for which she was nominated for the 2017 Man Booker Prize.